SCP Auctions of Laguna Niguel is putting a unique piece of baseball lore up for sale: The cap Bobby Thomson was wearing when he hit his "Shot Heard 'Round the World" homer that carried the New York Giants past the Brooklyn Dodgers for the NL pennant on Oct. 3, 1951.

In a press release, SCP says the hat could go for six figures; we assume they mean somewhere around $100,000 and not $999,000. The item and many others will go on the block in online bidding that begins April 30 and runs through May 19. If you're in the 1 percent and want to buy something, register at www.scpauctions.com.

So how did the cap come to be disengaged from its owner''s head? As Kevin Kaduk of Yahoo's Big League Stew writes, that story began soon after Thomson connected for the most famous homer in baseball history. With the Giants trailing 4-2 in the bottom of the ninth in the third game of a playoff to decide the NL flag, Thomson crushed a pitch from the Dodgers' Ralph Branca over the left-field wall at the Polo Grounds for a three-run homer, sending the Giants to the World Series.

Thomson was mobbed by his teammates at home plate, and several fans ran onto the field. One of them was Bernard "Bus" Davies, a 52-year-old who owned a fabric design store in Manhattan. Davies was a 27-year-long season-ticket-holder and thus had field-box seats. He was one of the first fans to reach the jubilant mob behind home plate, and in the excitement he plucked the cap right off Thomson's dome.

Check out the two photos below. In the first, Thomson arrives at the plate; in the second, that's apparently Davies' big hand patting Thomson on the head after the hat-pilfering.

Bobby Thompson, with and without hat, Oct. 3, 1951. Photos by AP.

As Kaduk writes, Davies held onto the hat for years and even offered to sell it to Thomson when he met him at a golf event, for $10,000. Thomson declined. Davies eventually gave it to his grandson, Jeff Eskin, who kept the hat on a nail in his Las Vegas apartment for a while and later loaned it out to the Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, where it was displayed in an exhibit for nearly 30 years.

Now Eskin is cashing in. "The meaning of the cap to me and my family is huge," Davies' grandson said in the release by SCP. "We are avid sports fans. I recognize the significance of Bobby's home run and its meaning to those who were alive then."

Davies died in the mid-1980s, and Branca died in 2010.

Should the hat rightly belong to Davies' heirs? SCP, in its release, puts it an interesting way, referring to how Davies "secured" the hat from Thompson' head. As if Davies had discovered some treasure that had washed up on the beach.

If Thomson did get royally jobbed, it might be that big karma wheel turning, considering the evidence that the Giants benefited from an elaborate sign-stealing system that year. ESPN.com listed the '51 Giants as the all-time biggest cheaters in baseball on this list.

What do you think?

UPDATE, 11:41 a.m.: I queried SCP Auctions about this, and in a statement through its PR agency, managing director Dan Imler said: "There has never been a dispute of ownership to my knowledge even while the cap was publicly exhibited at the HOF for 28 years."

User Agreement

Keep it civil and stay on topic. No profanity, vulgarity, racial
slurs or personal attacks. People who harass others or joke about
tragedies will be blocked. By posting your comment, you agree to
allow Orange County Register Communications, Inc. the right to
republish your name and comment in additional Register publications
without any notification or payment.